Soul Food 14 :: Where to Put Your Worries

Ciao ciao amici!

I’m currently in a situation (that’s hopefully coming to an end very soon) that is very stressful and I’m finding myself getting wrapped up in a little tornado of worry more frequently than I’d like as a result. So, as I’m reminding myself of a few things I like to do to let go of worries, I thought I’d dedicate a post to it. 🙂

I have historically been a worry wart. I have spent more hours (and probably days) than I’d care to admit with just festering worried thoughts swirling around in my head with no end in sight. I always felt like when I had a stressful/worrisome situation, that I physically could not focus on anything else and would therefore get sucked into the black hole that is worry rather easily.

So what can you do with these worries?

One thing my mom always practiced that took me far too long to practice myself was releasing your worries every morning to clear yourself and your day of it. If you have someone you particularly like to pray to or you just want to envision the worries being sent up into the universe, you can get these worries off your body before the day even begins.

Every morning in the shower I do this. I make a mental list of everything that’s stressing me today, and I literally release them out loud. I envision them all wrapped up in a ball and see the ball just float upward and away. When I do this, I can feel a physical weight being lifted off of my body and it’s so comforting. I’ll say an affirmation with this release too. Something like, “I release/let go of any and all worries pertaining to (the issue) as everything is being taken care of.”

Often I’ll return to this practice later in the day too. In fact, just before deciding I wanted to write this post, I did it! I’ll catch myself slipping and maybe even forming a headache and I just give the whole situation up before I waste any more needless energy on it.

Even if you don’t consider yourself to be very religious or spiritual, another great rationale for ceasing worry as soon as it begins is that continuing to worry does not change the outcome of the situation you are stressed about, so you may as well stop. 🙂 When this obvious fact strikes me, I always think “Oh! Of course.” And that helps me to change my mood and vibration around too.

Turn it around!

If you think you tend to just jump from one worry to the next and you’d like to free up your mind and spend more time thinking positively, you can give this practice a try for a few days. It costs you nothing, and can bring you a lot of peace.

These photos are from the most beautiful high tea I had at The Drake hotel in Chicago last week. 🙂

Does anyone else do something similar to this? I’d be really interested to hear how you guys deal with daily worries and turning it around. <3

That’s very honest and I love that High Tea photo. I’m a worrier but I keep reminding myself, “who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life”- Luke 12:25. Things will be alright. Cheers from The Netherlands.

Worry begets worry, like a snowball effect you can’t control sometimes. But at least you’re aware when it happens and I think your method of addressing it during your shower ritual is a big help. I don’t worry as much as I used to, but sometimes my mind will swirl with all kinds of thoughts, obsessive to do lists and some worries mixed in there. I still struggle with calming my mind sometimes, but I try to meditate every morning to start the day off right. It may not stop my thoughts immediately, but it doesn’t do any harm either. Keep it up!